Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to reverse any cuts to school funding and told the people of Crewe that children are the future and ‘that’s what this election is about’.

Mr Corbyn is the first of the big guns to be wheeled into the Crewe and Nantwich constituency - a seat the party is still hoping to regain after losing it to the Conservatives in 2008.

And the Labour leader pulled no punches when attacking the Conservatives over its school funding policy.

A consultation on changes to the national funding formula has recently ended.

If the Conservative government’s proposed changes go ahead, children in Cheshire East would be the lowest funded in the country.

Mr Corbyn told the crowds gathered in Crewe town centre on Saturday afternoon: “When we talk about our future, we talk about the future and the needs of all of our young people. This Tory government is slashing school spending all over the country, and this area is hit as hard or harder than anywhere else.”

At this, someone from the crowd shouted out ‘harder’.

“So what is this Tory government doing?” asked the Labour leader. “Underfunding our schools, teachers being laid off, teaching assistants being laid off and, parents taking their children back to school for the summer term get in return a letter pleading for money to keep the school going.

“While they cut billions off the educational needs of our children, they’ve found £350 million to build selective schools and grammar schools for the few.

“My message to this Tory government is simply this; we, the Labour Party, are for all children, not just the few! We will reverse these cuts, we will make sure that every school is properly funded.”

The Labour leader received a warm welcome from the people of Crewe and his message was well received from those who turned out to see him.

He refused to be put off by the one heckler who tried to disrupt his speech and was later removed by police.

There were cheers and applause when Mr Corbyn promised that, under a Labour government, every primary school child would get a free lunch.

And he said Labour would end the process of ‘handing £70 billion in tax relief to big business corporations and the very wealthiest in our society’ and instead ‘invest the money in the infrastructure this country needs, the jobs this country needs, the schools we need and the houses we need’.